Page 61 of In Too Deep
“There’s been an explosion.Another cave-in.Liam is hiking out four from the cave that were safely evacuated, but?—”
His voice cut out.Then it returned and was clearer.“One hiker is still inside, along with Noah and Meg.We need immediate assistance.”
Eden’s hands froze on the keyboard.“They were inside when the cave collapsed?”
“Yes.”
One word said it all, flat and final—the crushing weight of the fact that his friend was either dead or would soon be, trapped under tons of rock.And Teague couldn’t do a thing about it.
Her fingers flew across the keyboard.She pulled up the incident log and typed in rapid-fire, making errors she had to backspace.
Now was not the time to evaluate why her heart was pounding so hard at the sound of his voice, why relief was flooding through her veins just because he was alive and talking.Those were questions for later, for quiet moments alone when she could afford to examine feelings she’d been carefully not examining for months.
Not since her late-fiancé Landon, with his easy smile and reckless streak.Not since she’d sworn off adrenaline junkies who couldn’t see past the next rush, the next risk, the next time they could prove they were invincible.
Because everyone was invincible…until they weren’t.
Until they fell.
“Eden.”Teague’s voice came through, the single word heavy and broken.Then another pause stretched longer.
Eden’s stomach twisted.
“I have to get them out.Can you help me?”
“Can you reach them on radio?”
“Negative.But it could be that there is too much rock between us and them.Signal won’t penetrate.”Teague’s voice was steady and measured and controlled now.
But Eden had worked with him long enough to hear what he wasn’t saying.The slight tension in his words.The careful way he was choosing them.
“Have you tried making physical contact?Getting close to the collapse?”
“I’m looking at it now.”A pause.“Eden, the passage is completely sealed.Tons of rubble.And the whole thing is unstable.Could come down again any second.”
“Don’t—” The word came out sharper than she intended.“Teague, don’t even think about climbing into that rubble.”
“I need to try to make contact?—”
“You need to stay alive.”Eden’s hand tightened on the mic.Her other hand pressed flat against the desk to keep from shaking.
This was exactly what Landon used to do, that same reckless certainty—rush in without thinking, without considering the consequences, without caring that other people needed him to come home in one piece.
“If that collapse is unstable, going in there is suicide.”
“They could be dying in there.”
“And you dying won’t help them.”Eden took a breath and forced her voice to steady.“Can you hear anything?Any voices, movement, anything that suggests they’re alive?”
Silence on the other end.Long enough that Eden’s chest tightened.
“No,” Teague finally said.“Nothing.But the rock is thick, and there’s water running—I can hear it trickling through the rubble.They might be alive and I just can’t hear them.”
They might be alive.
Or they might already be dead.
Eden pushed the thought away.
